The right environment
Virtual reality is becoming an increasingly popular way to deliver immersive experiences for entertainment and education. But instead of making virtual environments as realistic as possible, could removing some of the real-life features make them more efficient?
A new study has explored the effects of visual, auditory and cognitive demands on the mental workload of users of immersive virtual reality. Participants were given a virtual shopping task to complete under different conditions, including the addition of moving characters, background noise and a simultaneous maths task.
The researchers measured their workload through a number of factors such as heart rate and pupil diameter, as well as the participants’ own assessment of mental demand and effort needed. The largest mental workload came from the additional cognitive demand of the maths problem.
The results could help to create virtual experiences that assist in reducing the additional cognitive demands on users and are more effective.
The study, published in the journal Applied Ergonomics, said: “Adjusting the level of realism may prevent overstimulation and help users focus on the core task at hand. Based on the present results, when simplifying the task environment to reduce mental workload, priority should be given to reducing cognitive demands, followed by auditory demands and, finally, visual distractions.”
